As They Sleep
by Buckle
Summary: Marlene watches them as they sleep. They are what they are. [oneshot.]


_**As They Sleep**_

She watches them as they sleep.

She loves to lie awake until she hears the last one go to sleep – which can be very late – and then secretively climb out of bed. She loves to open her door with the well-oiled hinges and creep down the halls. She loved when they all slept in the same room, because they seemed in harmony. They seemed to balance each other out, having learnt how to live and sleep together. So she perches herself up on a dresser so carefully, and from there she watches them.

There is the pilot, Cid, who mumbles in his sleep. He never moves from his position on his stomach, head to the side, and only his lips move, mumbling words she can never hear. Once, she tried to creep up and hear them, but it was mostly nonsense, about some thing called 'Shera' and something about Shera being in danger. Other times it's about completely different things, but she can barely hear him.

Her eyes drift.

There's the guardian, Nanaki, stretched out on either the floor or one of the girl's beds. Tonight is the floor, looking like a resting sphinx, his wise mind and knowledge tucked away behind shut eyes. His tail always flicks when he sleeps, and she watches the flame, transfixed. She would wonder if the others used it like a nightlight, and if they wouldn't be able to sleep without it. Then she wondered if it ever would catch anything on fire, but whenever it came close to a bed or something flammable it would flick out of the way. She would watch as his fur waved back in forth from the air that he exhaled, like grass moved by a wind.

Her eyes move again.

They land on her daddy, her big, loveable father, Barret. He's like a bear, even more so when he sleeps, loud snores breaking through the room, his cave. He lies sprawled on his back, arms spilling over the sides, occasionally shifting. Though his rumble of a snore forebodes, she knows better than anyone that he's huggable, loveable. She also knows he's tough, but for her, for his daughter, he is a loveable teddy bear. Unless he senses she is in danger; then he turns into a grizzly.

There's the beautiful martial artist, Tifa, sleeping with her hands clasped and pressed between the pillow and her cheek. She frowns in her sleep a lot, betraying what she never likes to show when she is awake. She is the one who is weighed down by not her burdens, but the burdens of the world, the burdens of everyone else. Most of them lose their burdens in their sleep – and well, they have to go somewhere. So the burdens rest on Tifa, weighing her eyes shut. Her frown flickers, and she is carrying the weight of Cid's lost dream. Her eyes move beneath their lids and she is holding Barret's worries for the Planet and his daughter. She parts her lips in a sigh, and she is letting out all the sorrow and worries that Yuffie never shows. Yet she will wake up, rested and well, heaving all the burdens onto her shoulders like Atlas carrying the world.

The Cetra, the angelic, saintly Aeris. She rests on her back, the opposite of Tifa, wearing a slight smile on her lips. Her lips never move, her eyes never flutter, and she never shifts. Her smile never wavers, as though in one, eternal good dream. Marlene doesn't understand how she can smile so much while Tifa is frowning. But, she guessed, if everyone's burdens went to Tifa, maybe their hope went to Aeris. Maybe all their hope, dreams, and faith carried to Aeris, who hid them and protected them between pink lips. So the Cetra smiled, even as the world was crashing down, so smiled in her sleep.

Then there was the ninja, Yuffie, the one who Nanaki had told her was a princess. Marlene's eyes watched her intently, because she had never met a real live princess before. She didn't act like the princesses in all the movies she watched. But all of it worked for Yuffie. Hair wasn't long and lovely, but short hair agreed with her, framing a pretty face (although not noticed when she stood next to Tifa and Aeris), and she wasn't perfect like the princess. Yet it was Yuffie, and it was real, and Marlene liked it. The princess slept on her side, though she liked to roll and shift constantly in her sleep, never content with staying in one place. She laughed in her sleep. Quietly she laughed and she giggled, and other times she cried. Other times she made small angry noises or crinkled her nose and sounded grossed out. No, the ninja-princess couldn't be quiet even in sleep.

There was the dark gunner, Vincent. The only time Marlene had seen him without his cape was in his sleep. He carried his own troubles in his sleep, and he had nightmares, Marlene could tell. He would toss and turn, frown and even snarl in his sleep. His eyes would move frantically beneath lids, and his face would grow tight from pain or anger. Marlene always expected that he might actually wake up tired. Bad things had happened to him, Marlene could tell. Bad things had happened to Mr. Valentine, and he carried them with him always, just like the cape on his shoulders. He could not let go of them, not ever, not even when he was asleep.

Finally there was the leader, Cloud, with his spiky blond hair that was mussed with sleep. She had to giggle at his hair. It stood up straight in places, twisted and tangled. He was confused even in sleep, as mixed-up as he always was. His brow was furrowed in confusion, trying to figure something out under the folds of sleep. He would flip from side to side, never deciding what side he was going to be on. Sometimes his eyes even opened in his sleep, deciding that being shut just wasn't the thing to do that night. It was he she would watch in concern, worried as he turned his back to all the others in the group, facing the wall, and then turning towards them again. She was anxious as he would wake up, sitting up straight before lowering. Usually, he actually wasn't even awake. He would sit up, or even get up in his sleep, but he never went far. But when he did wake, he would go outside and stare up. It was hard to watch Cloud sleep, Marlene knew, because he didn't always want to.

Even through Vincent's night horrors, Barret's rumbling snores, Cid's mumbling and Yuffie's laughing they slept, all in perfect harmony with one another. And at night, she saw them as they were. Tifa was worried, not the person Marlene would near tackle in a hug. Vincent was tortured, not her jungle gym as he was normally. Yuffie was full of emotion, not just Marlene's horsie who she would jump on for piggyback rides. Barret was a grizzly bear, not just her teddy bear. They were all different as they slept, but she liked it, because they were the same too. They were different because you never thought to hide something when you slept. But they were the same because they were who they were. Cloud is Cloud, Tifa is Tifa, Yuffie is Yuffie, Aeris is Aeris, Cid is Cid, Vincent is Vincent, Nanaki is Nanaki and Barret is Barret.

They were what they were as they slept.

They were what they were.

--

**A/N:** Nothing spectacular. At all. But you know, everythign has use, even just so I can look back on it one day and say 'how, look how much I've improved.

Inspired by the clip from Advent Children (still haven't seen the whole move, sadly enough) on the Shera where Yuffie is all 'That CLoud is a royal pain in the ass, like always' (love that part) and Tifa says "Cloud is Cloud."

I don't htink this oculd have happened in the game, but I'm not going for specifics here. Just a little...reflection thingie. More for my help, because I sometimes used to have trouble making Aeris and Tifa uniquely different.


End file.
